Media / Media Bias

The almost invisible Katrina death toll

Whenever a tragedy strikes that involves massive deaths, the mainstream media has an almost obsessive-like fixation with the rising death toll. In the hours and days after the event occurred, almost every newspaper, radio or television report of the catastrophe highlights the current estimate of lives that had been lost together with estimates of increases.

One example of the media’s concentration on death tolls occurred in the hours after the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. When the buildings collapsed the number of deaths was presumed to be 10,000+. In the days and hours following the horrific attack, there were constant references to the number of people that were confirmed dead. Luckily the actual death toll was under 3,000, what seemed to be amazingly low in light of the size of the twin towers and the time of day that the attacks occurred. The media shared in the public’s relief that the number of dead had not been greater.

Constant reference to the number of dead was even more pronounced following last December’s tsunamis. To the cynical, it almost seemed like the media was reporting a contest, carefully keeping track of what Asian country was leading in the number of people lost.

The number of dead is an important factor when reporting terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Although the World Trade Centre had great symbolic value, the twin towers were really just bricks and mortar; the important aspect was the number of Americans who were killed by the terrorists.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Initially the media was interested in the numbers of dead and missing. When New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin estimated that the death toll would be 10,000 that became big news. And the mainstream media practically salivated at the news that 25,000 body bags had been assembled near the Louisiana coast.

Then – nothing. Unlike the coverage of other disasters you have to look long and hard to find any reference to the number of people who are, at the time of the media report, dead or presumed to be dead. It is almost as the numbers of Americans who lost their lives after the breach of the levees was a relatively insignificant part of the story. And it was.

The life and death drama concerning the plight of people was shoved aside so the mainstream media could do what they do best – attack Bush. The number of dead didn’t matter; all that was important was that those who had died or were forced to flee the city were black and poor; those that the left like to say that George Bush doesn’t care about.

After Ray Nagin made his famous 10,000 dead prediction it became obvious that the death toll would not be anywhere near that amount. Speaking on The O’Reilly Factor, FNC’s Geraldo Rivera said that he had been all over New Orleans shortly after the hurricane hit. Acknowledging that he might be wrong, Rivera said that the toll would be nowhere near the 10,000 mark. He added that if that were the true number he would have seen dead bodies floating everywhere, not just the occasional one that he saw. The FNC journalist’s comments made a lot of sense and nothing has emerged since he made them to suggest that he was wrong in his observations concerning the number of deaths.

There’s a reason why the mainstream media has almost zero interest in the number of the dead. Unlike 9/11 or the tsunamis, the mainstream media wanted New Orleans to have a high number of casualties. A lower count went against their theory that Bush was indifferent to poor blacks. Many in the left-lib media would have preferred to see thousands more black men, women and babies dead so they could use that in going after a Republican president whom many have a visceral hatred for. The media looks at the residents of New Orleans, as many on the left are prone to do, not as individuals but as a group; in this case the group is poor, black people who frat boy Bush couldn’t care less about. Unless the number of fatalities is sufficiently high so as to really damage the president, the media has little interest in the numbers.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: aweinreb@rogers.com

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